Akram Khan Company celebrates 25 years with two productions at Sadler’s Wells

This October, Akram Khan Company celebrates 25 years as a company with a residency at Sadler’s Wells, bringing two productions to venues in Angel and Stratford. Sadler’s Wells Theatre plays host to the UK premiere of Akram Khan’s latest production, Thikra: Night of Remembering (Tuesday 28 October - Saturday 1 November), a collaboration with renowned visual artist Manal AlDowayan, while the much-loved family show Chotto Desh (Thursday 30 October - Saturday 1 November) adapted by Sue Buckmaster returns, this time coming to Sadler’s Wells East.
Over the last 25 years, Akram Khan Company has established itself as one of the foremost innovative dance companies in the world, winning countless awards along the way. Led by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Akram Khan, the company embraces a vision that both respects and challenges Indian kathak form and contemporary dance.

Past and present converge in Akram Khan’s latest offering, which received its world premiere at Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla earlier this year. Thikra: Night of Remembering features an all-female international cast of contemporary and Bharatanatyam dancers, and takes audiences on a journey through tradition to honour our ancestors, deeply rooted in the power of ritual.

Akram Khan MBE, said: "Marking the 25th anniversary of Akram Khan Company by sharing our new and final production, Thikra: Night of Remembering, with our London audiences feels like a full circle moment; an opportunity to honour the past, the people and the stories that have shaped our journey. Thikra is a personal and spiritual reflection on memory — on what we choose to carry forward and what we must lay to rest. As co-founders, Farooq and I are incredibly grateful to everyone who has walked with us — from our earliest supporters to those discovering the work for the first time. I’m also excited that Chotto Desh, so thoughtfully reimagined by Sue Buckmaster for young audiences, is part of this season as we introduce part of our story to a new generation at Sadler’s Wells East. I’m looking forward to gathering for this moment, to reflect, remember and celebrate together.”

Thikra draws inspiration from the ancient landscape, mythology and cultural heritage of AlUla, the ancient Arab city on the incense routes that linked Arabia and Europe. Khan and AlDowayan explore the richly diverse cultural landscape along with sacred practices from around the world, to delve into our own contemporary existence, paying homage to those who came before us. Building on the Arabic word thikra, meaning ‘memory,’ ‘recollection’ or ‘remembrance’, Khan explores themes of ancestral knowledge, collective learning and healing, convening on the idea that “without a past, there is no future.”

Manal AlDowayan’s work is in the collections of the British Museum, Centre Pompidou and Guggenheim, and she represented Saudi Arabia in the 60th Venice Biennale.

The production is accompanied by an original score by Aditya Prakash, with sound design by Gareth Fry, lighting by Zeynep Kepekli and dramaturgy by Blue Pieta.

Akram Khan Company’s Chotto Desh returns to Sadler’s Wells, this time to Sadler’s Wells East for a new generation of younger audiences and their families.
 
Chotto Desh, which means ‘small homeland’, draws on Akram Khan’s unique cross-cultural storytelling, creating a compelling tale of a boy’s dreams and memories from Britain to Bangladesh. Adapted by Sue Buckmaster from Khan’s Olivier Award-winning solo DESH, this heart-warming story follows a young man trying to find his place in the world.
 
Chotto Desh is a tale full of wonder, in which a man returns to childhood memories of his grandparents and the stories they told him. The production blends Kathak and contemporary dance with an exquisite mix of spoken text, dreamlike animation, visuals and specially composed music.

Sir Alistair Spalding CBE, Artistic Director and Co-Chief Executive of Sadler’s Wells, said: "Akram has been a pillar of our programme since I joined Sadler's Wells, becoming one of our very first Associate Artists, and we're therefore really pleased to be sharing not one, but two works to celebrate 25 years of Akram Khan Company. Akram is one of the seminal choreographic voices working today and you can see why in each of these shows. UK audiences will get an opportunity to see Thikra for the very first time - a fantastic collaboration with Manal AlDowayan with an all-female cast of Bharatanatyam dancers, and for younger audiences, there's a beautiful bit of storytelling in Chotto Desh - a much-loved favourite."

To accompany the performances at Sadler’s Wells East, Akram Khan Company presents a family dance workshop on The Dance Floor, Sadler’s Wells’ free public performance space. The accesible workshop brings together storytelling and dance and is recommended for children ages 7+ and their families.